How to write an introduction for an expository essay

An expository essay is the type, where you will need to simply explain or describe an object, event or meaning to the audience. As in every other essay, the introduction will be the part where your paper will first meet the reader and will, therefore, need to make the best possible impression on him. When writing an introduction for your expository essay, follow the easy advise we have prepared for you, it will make the paper outstanding!

Use a hook to instantly take your reader's attention. This shall be the first sentence of your paper (after the topic, of course), that will instantly make your reader interested in the paper and want to read more of it. It can be a quote, an interesting fact, statistics or whatever you feel will “hook” the reader. Also, make sure the hook is actually connected to the the essay itself, as it will not make any sense otherwise.

Inform the reader about the background of your topic. It will help you to introduce the topic and at the same time do not reveal what you will be writing in the main body completely. If you plan to write about a book, state the publishing information (e.g. name, author, year of publishing etc.); if you are writing about an event, describe its place in world history; if it's a person, give a short biography of him/her.

Write your thesis statement. This shall not necessarily come third, it can be placed right after the hook or at the end of the introductory paragraph. A thesis statement is usually one sentence that briefly states your topic and your goal on this essay. It shall be powerful enough to draw attention, but short and understandable. For an expository essay it will not be a good idea to include a conflict in a thesis statement.

State the main ideas of the essay in brief. This is not an obligatory part of a good introduction, but it will help you to connect your introduction to the rest of your paper an give the reader a short idea of what they will read about later. If you want to include this point, it is better to write this part of paper after you write the actual paper, or at least not to forget to edit it in the end, as some of your ideas will for sure change while you write the paper.

What we help with

The academic writing guides you can find on this website are created to assist high school and college students write better:

High school essays

Research papers

Capstone projects

Term papers

PowerPoint presentations

Article critiques

Dissertations

What our readers think

Josh (TX): I have been looking for a resource to help me write my essay and I found it!

Maria (Sweden): I was totally stuck with my research project till I bumped into this blog. Thank you!

Alex (DC): You guys have saved my literature term paper. You rock!

Jessica (NJ): Thank you for giving me free thesis statement topic ideas. I was about to fail my paper.

About us

Our editorial team consists of former college graduates and freelance academic writers, so we know what we are talking about when we say that we can help you increase your GPA. We work hard to produce helpful manuals and interesting guides for our readers to excel in essay and research paper writing.

If you would like to write a post for us or want to join our writing team, please get in touch with us via email.

We recommend

Academic writing is hard but we are here to help!

It may sound ridiculous but we have all received bad grades both in high school and college. We have all skipped classes, forgot to read the required articles or chapters, tried to cheat our tutors submitting free essays that we found online. We have all been there and done that. This resource, however, was created for those who got burned and do not want to repeat the same mistakes twice. Got educated, learn how to write and edit your written assignments, and graduate with flying colors.

Contact us

To ask a question, report a problem or send a writing related inquiry, send an email to help [at] forensicinschool dot com. We would love to hear from you!